Cuban commandos train with CIA operatives for the ill fated Bay of Pigs invasion. Wikimedia
18. The Bay of Pigs disaster and JFK
When John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960, it was in a campaign which presented an idealistic vision of the future, with peaceful coexistence with regimes which ran counter to American traditions. Early in his administration, Kennedy came to the conclusion with the support of his advisors that the Soviet Union was developing Cuba as a satellite state, under Fidel Castro. The removal of Castro became a goal of the administration. When the CIA presented the president with the long-planned invasion of Cuba by CIA-trained Cuban exiles (supported by CIA operatives), they assured the president that American military participation would be unnecessary. Kennedy approved the operation, an invasion at the Bay of Pigs, which quickly bogged down. Kennedy refused to support the invaders with airstrikes.
The Bay of Pigs fiasco was a political nightmare for the new president, and an international embarrassment as the level of US involvement in its planning and execution became known. Kennedy publicly acknowledged responsibility for the operation, but privately raged at the CIA which misled him. Believing that Kennedy’s refusal to support the invaders was a sign of weakness, Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev began installing missiles in Cuba, which led to another confrontation between the superpowers, one of the worst of the Cold War, in October 1962. During that crisis Kennedy was again exhorted to launch airstrikes against Cuba, which he again refused, choosing a diplomatic option to resolve the confrontation successfully.